Daily Archives: December 29, 2009

“Karl Rove, former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, has been granted a divorce in Texas after 24 years of marriage, family spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

“Karl Rove and his wife, Darby, were granted a divorce last week,” said Perino. “The couple came to the decision mutually and amicably, and they maintain a close relationship and a strong friendship. There will be no further comment, and the family requests that its privacy be respected.”

The Roves were married in January 1986.

A family friend told POLITICO: “After 24 years of marriage, many of which were spent under incredible stress and strain during the White House years, the Roves came to a mutual decision that they would end the marriage. They did spend Christmas together with their son, and they plan to spend time together in the future. They maintain a strong friendship, and they both feel that that friendship is a source of comfort and inspiration for their friends and family.”

Rove’s 608-page memoir, “Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight,” is due out from Simon & Schuster’s Threshold Editions on March 9.”

“Rove married Houston socialite Valerie Mather Wainwright, on 10 July 1976. He moved to Texas in January 1977. His sister and father still remembered “the wedding [that] was so extravagant that [we] … still recall it with awe.[51] Rove and Wainwright were divorced in early 1980; she was 26 and he 29.[52] He attended the University of Texas at Austin in 1977; he still lacked a degree. In July 1999 he told the Washington Post that he did not have a degree because “I lack at this point one math class, which I can take by exam, and my foreign language requirement.”
In January 1986, the now divorced Rove married Darby Tara Hickson. She is a breast cancer survivor, a graphic designer, and former employee of Karl Rove & Co. Their son, Andrew Madison Rove (b. 1989) is an undergraduate at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. On December 29, 2009, it was reported that Rove and Darby had been granted a divorce in Texas after 24 years of marriage.[53]
Dana Perino, the spokesperson, said: “Karl Rove and his wife, Darby, were granted a divorce last week. The couple came to the decision mutually and amicably, and they maintain a close relationship and a strong friendship. There will be no further comment and the family requests that its privacy be respected.”
The Roves were married in January 1986.
Karl Rove left Texas after Bush was elected President in late 2000. He currently resides in Washington, D.C.”

And isn’t it lucky that the Rove’s are divocing in Texas — land of “Family Values.” For if things go the way its promoters hope, divorce may be banned in California.

“Til death do us part? The vow would really hold true in California if a Sacramento Web designer gets his way.
In a movement that seems ripped from the pages of Comedy Channel writers, John Marcotte wants to put a measure on the ballot next year to ban divorce in California.
The effort is meant to be a satirical statement after California voters outlawed gay marriage in 2008, largely on the argument that a ban is needed to protect the sanctity of traditional marriage. If that’s the case, then Marcotte reasons voters should have no problem banning divorce.
“Since California has decided to protect traditional marriage, I think it would be hypocritical of us not to sacrifice some of our own rights to protect traditional marriage even more,” the 38-year-old married father of two said.
Marcotte said he has collected dozens of signatures, including one from his wife of seven years. The initiative’s Facebook fans have swelled to more than 11,000. Volunteers that include gay activists and members of a local comedy troupe have signed on to help.
Marcotte is looking into whether he can gather signatures online, as proponents are doing for another proposed 2010 initiative to repeal the gay marriage ban. But the odds are stacked against a campaign funded primarily by the sale of $12 T-shirts featuring bride and groom stick figures chained at the wrists.
Marcotte needs 694,354 valid signatures by March 22, a high hurdle in a state where the typical petition drive costs millions of dollars. Even if his proposed constitutional amendment made next year’s ballot, it’s not clear how voters would react.
Nationwide, about half of all marriages end in divorce.”

Which makes Karl’s marital history. . .typical.
Texas being the veritable embodiment of decorum, we won’t be learning any of the details about who got what — especially when it comes to THIS dude.

I’m sure “Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight” will explain precisely what Gucky was up to — don’t you?

But on this solemn and terribly private and personal occasion, it’s best to turn the mic over to the ineffable Tammy